Charmless
by Justanothersinger
Summary: Luck was the name they gave him. But that was all they saw. And what they couldn't see could very well be the thing that would kill them all. Sci-fi AU, may contain gore and tragedy in later chapters.


**The song used here "Luck was the name" is my own. **

**I don't own the characters of the Dangan Ronpa series!**

**Also, this story contains (eventual) Naegami! Yes, you read that right. Naegami. As in, pairing between Naegi Makoto and Togami Byakuya. Both of whom are guys. Don't say I didn't warn you. There may or may not be typos in this chapter which I'm too lazy to edit it because it is stupid 'o clock and my grey matter is _not _up for that shit now. Oh, and my story also has cussing in it. As demonstrated here. So, I'm sorry if that's not your thing.**

**With that said, let's get started! **

Charmless  
-

Chapter 1: Luck was the name  
-

_I have no idea what I'm doing here._

Well, that was a contradiction. Not a lie, but a contradiction. He knew exactly where he was, he knew exactly why he was here, therefore it stood to reason that he knew exactly what he was doing.

...Actually, the latter statement stood for re-examination, because he didn't know if the decision he had made to come here in the first place was made in a fit of temporary insanity or not. Chances are, he did and he has made a horrible mistake and maybe he should just leave now before anyone paid enough attention to miss him. Which he highly doubted.

There was no way he'd ever fit in here.

_...Ok, maybe that was slightly overdramatic. _

Overdramatic yes, but also understandable.

Somewhat absentmindedly, he touched the letter in his pocket. The tip crumpled easily under the light touch, the most recent of the many folds it had acquired since he had received it.

_Kibougamine Academy._

By official designation, it is a high school.

To the common man, it is much more than that. Kibougamine Academy is a prestigious establishment in every sense of the word. Those who were enrolled here were chosen by the academy, and in each and every case, the chosen student excelled in their realm of education by a wide margin from the normal, everyday middle-schooler. And more often then not, they came from noble, distinguished families with wealth and prosperity woven into the cloth of their ancestry.

...

...

...

Most of the time anyway.

For today, Naegi Makoto, sixteen years of age**, **average middle-school graduate with a normal middle-class background found himself to be the rare exception to this prestigious school's admission system.

_I knew this was coming. I _did _submit an application to this high school._

But he didn't know he would actually _get in. _Especially considering his less-than-stellar grades and almost non-existent extracurricular activity. He didn't know that all applicants' names would be included in a lucky draw of sorts and the name that would be picked out of thousands of hopefuls that applied would be _his _name.

He wanted to go, though. He _needed_ to go.

Because whoever enrolled in this academy was guaranteed success for the rest of his life. Such was the power of the influence of the school.

Supposedly.

He looked to his side, where the brick wall he was currently leaning on met with the cold steel of the gate, simple in design and yet, cold and imposing, matching the noble and distinguished aura of the school.

_Is it really alright for me to be here? _

Naegi took a deep breath. He was already in, he had already attended the entrance ceremony, visited his soon-to-be class and was told the specifics regarding his uniform and his schedule, met the principal...now all that was left was a tour of the school, which was half an hour from now.

_It's a bit late to run away now, after all that. And...I really need this. _

"Um..."

Naegi looked up and saw a girl standing there.

"Um...you're Naegi Makoto-kun, aren't you?"

"...Ah, yes! Yes, I am!" Naegi said, wincing inwardly when his voice sounded a little high-pitched. He was even more embarrassed when he saw a smile break out on the girl's pretty face.

Uh...I mean, yes I am." He repeated, in a slightly more normal tone. He frowned a little as he continued to stare at the girl. Was it just him or did she seem somewhat familiar? "Eh...could you possibly be Maizono Sayaka-san?"

The girl nodded, "...Are you a sixer? Class two, Nekuro Sixth Junior High?"

"Yes, I was."

"I knew it! You _are _that Naegi-kun! I was in Nekuro Sixth too! Oh, but I was in class four."

"I know." It was almost impossible not to know who Maizono Sayaka was.

Maizono Sayaka was the 'Super High-School Level Idol'; the lead vocalist of an immensely-popular all-girl group that was loved not only by Japan, but by other nations as well. She was in such high-demand, offers from TV shows and movies would flood her mailbox everyday, requesting her presence. Which is why Naegi was surprised then, to find her name in the new students thread on the school website. And surprised now, because she'd actually remembered him.

"Of course I remembered you! You did go to my school after all."

"Eh?" He blinked. _Whoa. Weird. It was almost like she knew what I was thinking._

"Of course, I know what you're thinking. Because," Here, Maizono's face took on a serious expression, "I'm an esper."

"...Huh? Esper? Wait...a mind-reader?!Eh?!"

She giggled, "I'm joking, silly."

"Oh." He said lamely.

"But, I'm relieved to have someone I know attending this school as well." She looked up at the school building, "It's kind of scary, isn't it? Coming to a place like this all alone?" The good cheer in her voice seemed to have dimmed slightly, and she followed his gaze to the building with a forlorn expression.

"Yeah." _Even Maizono-san is nervous..._"But then, it's a good experience to meet new people and make new friends, right?"

"That's true!" The smile was back on her face as she looked back at him, sweet and warm and Naegi could feel one spreading across his own face at the sight, "You're right, everything will be fine. It's just the start of a new chapter here. Thank you, Naegi-kun."  
He blushed a bit, then ducked his head, "Oh no, I didn't do anything."

"Yes, you did, you cheered me up!" She said sweetly, "So, I'm thanking you for that." She looked back at the school again, as if pondering something for a minute before she turned back to him, "Ah, the tour will be starting soon, won't it? Do you want to come and wait with me, Naegi-kun?"

"Huh? Is that ok?" Naegi asked.

"Of course it is, I'm the one asking you! So, are you coming?"

"Uh...sure, why n-"

Naegi froze mid-sentence. His eyes tore away from her face and locked on to something behind her.

He stared.

And stared.

And stared.

Puzzled, Maizono looks behind her and sees nothing particularly out of the ordinary. She turns back to Naegi, wondering what happened...and she sees the color slowly drain from the boy's face, his eyes tightening at the corners, his mouth pressed into a thin line.

An expression of fear in his eyes.

"Naegi-kun?"

He blinked and the moment passed.

He looked back at her, the same, uncertain smile on his face.

"Sure, why not. But, Maizono-san. Is it ok if I meet up with you there? I just remembered I have something important to do."

"Something important?"

"Yeah, it's just something I have to clear up before the tour."

"Oh. Can I do anything to help? If it's something important..."

"No, it's fine!" He replied, as he absently brushed the back of his jacket, "It's just something I want to clear up. I'll see you there, Maizono-san?"

"Ok. See you there."

She turned away and walked back towards the school building. She walked about 10 steps, before she looked behind her, raising an arm to wave at her new friend.

Her hand paused mid-wave.

She was about to wave to empty air. Naegi had already gone.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x-x

_**Naegi had already gone.**_

_**Or, Naegi had never been there in the first place.**_

_**Had Naegi ever been there in the first place?  
**_

_**Where was the proof that he had been there? **_

_**Could he have simply been a figment of her imagination? Another specter of the past the girl never wanted to remember?**_

Maybe.

_**Maybe.**_

**"That girl has done soooooo many things that she doesn't want to remember."**

**"With that troublesome personality, she will commit as many more in the future."**

"No doubt."

**"No doubt."**

**"So hard to believe that pretty face hides that vile soul."**

**"People with pretty faces get away with everything."**

**"And that **_**voice...**_**aaah, the voice of an angel! She's got the voice of an angel~"**

**"Her heart is as black as a sinner's , though. Such a waste."**

**"Feh, she gets so much more out of life than she deserves!"**

**"We should correct that."**

"Yes, we should!"

**"We are the only ones who can **_**do **_**something about it anyway, unlike those brainless, love-struck puppets of hers."**

"Yeah!"

**"Yeah, we should!"**

"No-one would ever,

_**ever **_**go for Maizono Sayaka's blood anyway. They all love their sweet, angel of a singer too much to even consider her ever being able to commit a sin."**

**"Their idol's already a **_**fallen **_**angel; lying isn't exactly a hard thing for her to do."**

**"We should probably just end her right now. Who knows what she would do in the future."**

**"Hah, that's a joke! I know! **_**I can see it as clearly as I see her! **_**She has to die! Maizono Sayaka **_**has to die!**_**"**

**"This discussion is meaningless if action isn't taken."  
**

**"It should be preeeetttyyy easy with this!"**

**"...Very well. That would suffice."**

**"So throw it! She's **_**right there**_**, go ahead and nail her right in the heart!"**

**"Quit your blabbering, I can't concentrate."**

**"3...2...1!"**

**Whoosh!**

**"Agh!"**

**"What?!"**

**"What in the name of...?"**

**"...! The knife! Where's the knife gone?!"**

"Why are you doing this?"

The new voice was quiet, hushed. But then, it was not so new. It wasn't, when they'd just heard the voice conversing with their intended target mere minutes ago.

**"What?! When did you get up here?!"**

"Why are you trying to kill Maizono-san?"

**"Should you really be asking that, when you're all up close and personal with us, boy?"**

**"Shame. You have a cute face too." **

**"...This banter is pointless and wasting precious breath. We should just kill him, get her and get it over with." **

"Why would you want to kill me? And why go after Maizono-san?"

**"Ugh, he's one of them. One of her love-struck fools. I take back everything I said about you."**

**"Kill the fool already!"**

**"Tear his heart out and feed it to the crows!"**

"You hate Maizono-san." It wasn't a question.

**"Of course! That two-faced bitch is nothing more than a waste of air!"**

**"Do you even know what your idol has done to step up in the entertainment world?!"**

**"And what she'll do next will shock you even more! Here's a hint: she'll be making front-page news the world over! For all the wrong damn reasons!"**

"I don't know what she's done in the past. That's true. But whatever she's done does not warrant her death from you**." **

**"Hah?! What're you gonna do about it kid?! Take a step closer and I'll claw your fucking brains out!"**

**"Stop talking to him and just kill her already! She's right there!" **

"Please don't move. I don't want you to hurt her."

**"Well, you're in luck, kid. I won't hurt her. Much, that is." **High-pitched laughter rang through the sky like a gunshot, and even bathed in shadow, lines of tension could be

seen in Naegi's form.

**"What happened to all that courage, kid?"**

**"It probably drained out with the piss in his pants. Just look at him shaking."**

**"Your heroism is for naught, child. Leave now, or I will kill you."**

"No. I won't."

**"Very well. You may die now."**

Another _whoosh_ and the space closed between them, a flash of silver between their forms.

A third _whoosh_ and a single, inhuman cry rang through the air.

**"What?!" **

**"He's gone! Where did that bra-?! Look out!"**

A fourth _whoosh_ and a gust of wind, strong and proud, and the ringing keen of steel on steel.

**"...!"**

**"...My, that was unprecedented."**

**"The fuck?!"**

**"...He's...am I seeing things or is he-?!"**

"I don't want to hurt you. But I can't let you hurt her." His words were almost lost in the wind. The wind beaten back by the two wings extending from either side of Naegi's bare torso, casting graceful shadows onto the ground.

**"He...he has wings..." **

**"He has wings like us..."**

**"He has wings...like **_**me..."**_

The last words were hushed, an almost-silent whisper drowned out in the loud echoes of the others.

**"The wings...you...your wings are from..."**

Naegi kept silent, gazing steadily at her.

**"You're like us."**

"Like me."

**"...What?"  
**

"Not like 'us', like 'me'. There's only one of you."

**"No, like **_**us**_**. We're here too, angel boy."**

"They took over your body, didn't they? Your alternate personalities." Naegi took a cautious step forward. The hand which held the knife he'd stolen from them...from _her, _drifted slightly behind him. "I'm right, aren't I?"

**"Quit talking to him and just kill him already!"**

**"...!"**

"You can fight it! It's ok, you can fight it!"

A frustrated whimper, and a step back. **"I can't hold them off for long! Run away while you still can!"**

"Why are you here? It's not just to kill Maizono-san, are you?"

**"Get out of here before I kill you too, **_**go**_**!"**

"I can, because you're the only one I can ask." Naegi pressed on, seeing the chink in her armour, "Do you at least remember what you are?"

**"..."**

**"What the hell are you doing?! Stop talking to him!"  
**

**"Kill him!"  
**

**"Burn him!"**

**"...Yes. Yes, I do."**

"So you know you came from..._that _place. Do you remember why?"

**"...Out of the way, angel brat."**

"...! Wait, no!"

**"I-...agh, I'm sorry! Get out of the way before I-"**

"Don't-"

**"By the time you finish that sentence..."  
**

Mirror images.

Fear for fear, a knife for a knife.

Wings for wings.

Black wings on either side of her body.

The last flicker of humanity dying in her eyes before the madness took over completely.

**"...she would already be dead."**

"No!"

Naegi darted forward. His wings blew back, out of the way as she slashed another knife at them. His own shot out in front of him, but just barely missed her side.

She jumped back. An eerie grin on her face as she sang in a voice that could never be classified as human, not even in the loosest interpretation of it.

**"**_**Oh, I came back **_

_**With a knife in my hand**_

_**A song in my throat**_

_**And blood on my land"**_

Naegi managed a look of surprise in the fraction of a second that she paused. Then she attacked, aiming once again for his wing. While he dodged the knife again, she decked him a surprise punch in the stomach.

"Gggh!"

All the while, without even sounding at a loss for breath, she continued singing, in a tone-dead voice, her smile becoming wider and wider with each lyric:

_**"And I saw a girl **_

_**With a key in her heart**_

_**And flowers in her hair**_

_**In a dead horse cart"**_

Naegi struggled to regain his breath as she charged at him again. His mouth twisted as he forced himself up and ran to meet her halfway.

_**"She sang two songs **_

_**To three lone travellers**_

_**The voice of an angel**_

_**With the eyes of a devil"**_

At the last second, his wings folded and pushed him back up into the air. The girl watches as he catapults upward and readies her stance.

_**"The first traveller**_

_**Wanted to speak**_

_**His appreciation**_

_**For the song**_

_**But he could not**_

_**His tongue was cut**_

_**The scent of blood**_

_**His coat did reek"**_

Naegi swerves away at the last minute, feathers just skimming the blade of the knife this time and he flies back up towards the sky. The girl did not stop singing, but irritation was clear as day on her face. Her wings stretched fully open, cutting sharp black into the blazing blue above, but she continued to stare at him from her position on the ground.

_**"The second traveller**_

_**Wanted to see**_

_**The famed beauty**_

_**That caught the hearts**_

_**Of the many who'd seen her**_

_**But she could not**_

_**Because her eyes**_

_**Had been plucked**_

_**The devil commented they**_

_**Were strawberry sweet**_

_**And cherry tart"**_

Naegi landed on the top of the mini-roof that housed the stairway door, eyes searching a weak point in the girl's defenses. _Think, Naegi...what kind of creature is she? _

She had black wings, but her face was that of a woman's. From what he'd seen of her eyes, the pupils were slits and the iris color was gold. She wasn't wearing glasses, and her eyesight seemed fine. She seemed to be against flying, though, which was strange; he hadn't seen flying types resistant to actually...well, _flying_. Her wings seemed fine too...

She looked back at Naegi with strangely-cautious eyes, as she continued singing, eyes that seemed to be analyzing his every move.

_Wait...that's it!_

Naegi takes a deep breath and launches into the sky for the third and final time.

**"**_**The third traveller**_

_**Wanted to feel**_

_**The strange warmth and cold**_

_**The song of the beautiful devil **_

_**Was said to grant**_

_**But he could not"**_

He flew straight down, knife raised, towards her.

She stayed where she was.

She already knew the outcome of this battle.

_**"Because the devil **_

_**Gently covered his ears**_

_**And whispered a spell**_

_**The traveller alone**_

_**Who bewitched her heart**_

_**And invoked her sympathy**_

_**Fleeting though it may be**_

_**Had earned her blessing**_

_**Had earned his curse  
Blessed with the luck of a thousand souls**_

_**Cursed with the luck of a thousand devils**_

_**Name erased**_

_**Memories forgotten**_

_**Years taken away**_

_**He ceased being human**_

_**Nay, he ceased 'being' anything"**_

At the last second, Naegi ducked downward a little more.

And it seems the girl had already anticipated his move.

_**"Luck was the name**_

_**That they gave him**_

_**They refused to look past**_

_**And see who he really was.**_

_**Luck was the name**_

_**That they gave him**_

_**And they refused to see**_

_**Just what it was that made him lucky."  
**_

The last few words were strung together, and for a few seconds, the tone seemed to pick up into a frenzied melody.

She reached out...and missed.

He reached out...and didn't miss.

His breath and hers were drawn together, both exhaled in a mix of wondrous horror. He could feel the warm gush of blood on his fingers and wrist, but his attention was only for the expression that haunted her face.

Relief. Pure, unadulterated relief.

Her body shook, then gave out. And the second breath was her final one. She collapsed against him, and for a split second, he imagined the life from her fleeing her body and escaping with the trickling red that flowed over his body.

He shuddered and gently lowered her to the ground.

"I'm...I'm so..."

_I'm so sorry._

_I'm so sorry._

_I'm so, so sorry._

_I..._

How many times would he have to say that?

How many times would he say that before it was his turn?

His shoulders sagged. He could already feel the exhaustion at the back of his brain.

He prayed for the day to be over soon.

He prayed for a night where the dreams didn't come.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x-x-x-x


End file.
